On January 4th 1964 history was made when Pope Paul the 6th
began the first ever papal visit to the Holy Land. Lasting less than two days, the
visit took the pope to the main holy sites in Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem and
included several important ecumenical meetings. His visit also marked the first
time that a Roman Pontiff had ever travelled in a plane and it was the first time
a reigning pope had left Italy in more than a century.
The newspapers of that
date hailed the announcement of Pope Paul’s visit to the Holy Land as “astonishing”
saying he clearly wished to go beyond every historical precedent. On arriving in
Jordan at this start of his visit, the Pope stressed that his visit was purely pastoral
and described it as a humble pilgrimage to the Holy Sites. But what memories do people
from the Holy Land have of that historic visit?
Listen to this report from
Susy Hodges that includes sound clips of Pope Paul VI speaking in English at the start
of his visit and testimony from several people who witnessed at first hand the papal
visit.